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Exalted: The Awakening House Rules
These are the house rules being used in Exalted: The Awakening. Errata and Ink Monkeys All errata, as per the Scroll of Errata (10/11/2010) is in effect, as is all Ink Monkeys material. This material supersedes all other printed material, but is (where applicable) superseded by the House Rules. Ability house rules Archery What was the Archery skill is now called Marksmanship. In addition to covering the old subjects that it would have before (bows, crossbows, cannons, and so forth and so on,) it governs firearms and firearm-like objects being wielded in both hands, whether it's a pistol or a rifle. Crafting The Craft skill is only one skill, Craft. On it's own, the Craft skill represents your ability to do handyman tasks, to work with and maintain gear, and follow instructions, but anything you build on your own (not following a plan or guide) will be crude, if possibly functional. Specifically, you can conduct repairs, maintenance, and maybe modifications on equipment if you have and can follow detailed instructions on how to do so, or equivalent experience in maintaining similar or identical gear; with no penalty whatsoever. If you have a vague idea of what needs to be done, you can repair and maintain at a -2 external penalty, and if you're more or less guessing or making it up on the spot, the penalty rises to -4. You can always assist someone who knows what he's doing without penalty, as it's presumed he's giving you instructions as he goes. Learning to conduct an actual craft, however, is a bit trickier. Most people involved in manufacturing are not actually crafters; they follow their training to conduct a specific task, but becoming an actual artisan is a very different beast. Specifically, the cost (and training time) to master a mortal, Elemental craft is the same as your character type would require to learn a Specialization. This is not the same as your specializations, rather it's an endorsement on your Crafting ability, like learning a Thaumaturgy college is an endorsement on your Occult skill. Learning the Exotic crafts (anything besides Air, Earth, Fire, Water, and Wood,) such as Magitech, costs more. Specifically, it costs you as much XP as learning a Craft Charm would cost your character type, and retains the same training time. Prerequisites in terms of knowing specific or nonspecific elemental Crafts are no longer valid; it's perfectly possible to be a Magitech genius without knowing the first fragging thing about smithing metal into a sword or axe the old fashioned way. (If this seems wrong, ask yourself if the guys who design automobiles or aeroplanes or tanks would know their way around an anvil and forge. No? Didn't think so.) Any highly technical field would require its own Craft endorsement; for example, the Craft (Mechanical) endorsement would cover designing automobiles and mechanical vehicles or devices of similar complexity, while Craft (Electronics) would allow you to understand electronic diagrams and lay out circuit boards and such. Note that you don't need an endorsement of Craft (Mechanical) to conduct minor to moderate maintenance, repairs, or tuning up a car, nor do you need Craft (Electronics) to put together a computer from parts you bought off the internet. Both of those functions would fall under the basic Craft skill, without any necessary endorsements. You would use Craft (Mechanical) to draft the master plans for a factory to mass-produce a new model of automobile or to build a kit-car from scratch in your garage, while Craft (Electronics) would be used in an R&D setting designing new boards or gear, or when one needs to repurpose or improvise electronic equipment. As far as Attributes are concerned, you use the dice pool of your + Relevant Specialization + Relevant Attribute, as per normal. If what you're trying to do requires fine work, it'll be Dexterity; if you're drawing up plans, then Intelligence, and if you're hammering away on a forge and anvil, Strength. Generally, the ST will try to be generous and let you use the highest of potential Attributes for any given task. The cost to begin with Crafting knowledge is 1 BP for an Elemental Craft (or two Elemental endorsements for 1 BP if Craft is Favored,) and as many BP as a Craft Charm would cost you for an Exotic craft like Magitech. Thrown In addition to the activity of manually flinging objects, the Thrown ability governs firearms and firearm-like objects (such as a hand crossbow or a prayer piece,) wielded with one hand. Ride Ride is now called Drive, and is the primary ability used to operate vehicles which may be operated by one primary operator. For example, a horse, horse-cart, motorcycle, car, bus, minivan, helicopter, jet fighter, and such, would be maneuvered with the Drive skill. By way of comparison, a main battle tank, airliner, and a ship would be operated with the Sail skill. Charms Reflexives All Exalted types get to activate Reflexive Charms freely, without the need of combos. This rule is experimental, and is subject to change or removal if it becomes more trouble than it's worth. If it gets changed, everyone gets a free character rebuild. Excellencies Excellencies are at once the most basic, and most boring, part of Exalted existence. In the interest of alleviating this burden, Ability-based Exalted purchase their First, Second and Third Excellencies by Caste instead of Ability; for instance, a Solar would buy the First Dawn Excellency, applicable on Marksmanship, Martial Arts, Melee, Thrown and War. Attribute-based Exalted purchase their Excellencies by attribute category; a Lunar would purchase the Third Social Excellency, applicable on any roll linked to Manipulation, Charisma or Appearance (the perfect thing for preventing social faux pas!) All first excellencies purchase two dice per mote spent, and the Second Excellency purchases one success per mote spent; as per the way Terrestrial Exalted roll their Excellencies. All characters are limited to their normal excellency caps based on splat type and dice pool; a Solar with Dexterity 5, Melee 0, and the First Dawn Excellency, could swing a sword with a dice pool of 9 for two motes, or a pool of 10 with 3 motes. Lastly, all Excellency requirements have been stripped from all Charm trees except additional excellence charms. Any non-excellence Charm with a prerequisite of one or more Excellency loses that Excellency (or excellencies) from its prerequisites list; possibly leaving it with no prerequisites whatsoever. For the example of a Solar, There is No Wind and Trance of Unhesitating Speed would be immediately purchasable Charms, but Infinite Archery Mastery and Divine Transcendence of Archery would still require the First, Second or Third Dawn Excellency. It would only enhance Archery-linked rolls. *(Ability) Essence Flow was an Excellency which is rendered obsolete by the general house-rule in effect granting free reflexives. The permanent reduction in mote costs granted by Supreme Perfection of (Ability) has likewise been rendered moot by the general reduction on all Excellencies. Note that these rules are experimental and subject to change if they prove to be more trouble than they're worth. If they have to be changed or removed, all characters will be granted a free character rebuild. Solar Hero Style Ignore the version of Solar Hero Style printed in the core rulebook; Jon Chung's Fist of the Daystar Style is the version we're using. Specific Charms Tireless Sentinel Technique *'Cost: -'; Mins: Resistance 3, Essence 2 *'Type:' Permanent *'Keywords:' Mirror (Restless as the Dead; follows) *'Prerequisite Charms:' None The tireless sentinel that is the Pillar of Heaven is as ever-alert and watchful as a Lion Dog. He can remain awake and active for up to Essence + Resistance days before he begins to accumulate fatigue normally and must rest. Restless as the Dead The Abyssal Charm mirrors Tireless Sentinel Technique exactly. Additionally, the Death Knight can choose to spend an additional two experience points to upgrade to the Taint version of the Charm, forsaking sleep entirely and nevermore needing rest, but forgoing the benefits thereof forever, as he is no longer capable of rest. Mindful Meditation Method *'Cost: -'; Mins: Resistance 5, Essence 4 *'Type:' Permanent *'Keywords:' None *'Prerequisite Charms:' Tireless Sentinel Technique This Charm allows the Solar to recover his strength without letting his guard down or his awareness lapse. He may rest however he wishes so long as he does not move, speak, or act; sleep is popular, as is meditation. The Solar's player is aware of any and all activity taking place around his character while his character sleeps, and may spend a Willpower on the character's behalf to have the character awaken immediately with full knowledge of what has happened, able to act for a scene and ignoring all fatigue penalties, even immediately Joining Battle if need be. When the scene is over, the character falls back into sleep for the remainder of the time he was to rest, waking up and being able to recover willpower as if his rest was never interrupted, remembering the events which took place as a vague dream. When the Solar's effective Essence for purchasing Resistance Charms reaches 6, the Solar is fully aware of all things happening around him while he rests, and may immediately rise and act normally without spending willpower at all. Many Solars of the First Age used this feature to seem as if they needed no rest whatsoever, entering a meditative trance on their thrones whilst listening to courtiers drone on, occasionally deigning to disrupt their trance just long enough to issue an edict or proclamation. General Rules Virtue Channels Virtue Channels no longer cost a willpower to invoke. Willpower Recovery Willpower recovery now rolls your primary virtue, not necessarily Conviction. You recover the number of garnered successes in points of temporary Willpower, not simply one. The Rule of 10 does not apply to this rule, however you can choose to count three dice as one automatic success rather than rolling and taking your chances. If you have more than three dice on such a roll, you may roll them all, or take three automatic successes for one guaranteed point of willpower and roll the rest. The Great Curse You may spend twelve background points at character generation to have a Solar Shard which is free of the Great Curse, for one reason or another. Perhaps one of your prior incarnations was actually an Abyssal who redeemed themselves. Otherwise, pick a Curse manifestation and trigger condition as normal. Training Times While in theory there's no rational explanation for why learning something should come faster in the modern day than to the God-Kings of the First Age, the fact is that events in the modern era unfold very rapidly. The setting presumptions of massive travel times and everybody taking the winter off because armies can't march in snow and roads are unnavigable to travelers are simply untrue on our Earth. Listed training times assume the character has some form of tutor or relevant resource to draw upon from which he can learn, such as a library or the internet. Without something to learn from, training times are doubled. However, the Exalted are masterless in their Caste and Favored abilities, and use the listed times whether they're learning from an ancient master with a rating of 10 in the relevant ability, or alone in a cave. Training time is listed in hours, but a character cannot normally avail himself of more than eight hours of training per day; eventually the human mind simply cannot digest more information, the human body cannot process any more muscle memory. Superhuman feats of stamina and alertness can increase this, however. Every point of Stamina and Wits over 5 increases the number of useful hours per day a person may train by one each. Or the Exalted may simply avail themselves of Charms that provide supernatural restlessness, alertness, and attentiveness to their education. Category:Exalted: The Awakening Category:House Rules